Journal of Services Marketing Emerald Article: Motives of dysfunctional customer behavior: an empirical study Kate L. Daunt, Lloyd C. Harris Article information: To cite this document: Kate L. Daunt, Lloyd C. Harris, (2012),"Motives of dysfunctional customer behavior: an empirical study", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 26 Iss: 4 pp. 293 - 308 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/08876041211237587 Downloaded on: 11-10-2012 References: This document contains references to 85 other documents To copy this document:
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Motives of dysfunctional customer behavior: an empirical study Kate L. Daunt Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK, and Lloyd C. Harris Warwick Business School, The University of Warwick, Coventry, UK Abstract Purpose – This paper aims to examine the associations between individual factors (personality and demographic variables) and contextual factors (servicescape and situation-specific variables), and the motives that drive episodes of dysfunctional customer behavior. Design/methodology/approach – Self-report data were collected from a survey of bar, hotel, and restaurant customers (n 1⁄4 380). Confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis were utilized to analyze the data. Findings – Analysis of the data revealed three clusters of motives labelled: financial egotists, money grabbers, and ego revengers. Statistically significant differences were revealed across the personality, servicescape, and situation specific variables for each motive. However, no differences were found concerning demographic variables. Research limitations/implications – This research emphasizes the primacy of three customer behavior motivations. Future research might investigate the motives for dysfunctional customer behavior across different organizational contexts and the dynamics between such motivations. Practical implications – The findings of the study indicate that service managers can proactively control and manipulate servicescape and situation- specific variables that relate to customer misbehavior motives. Originality/value – No existing scholarly research has developed a data-grounded understanding of the motivations of dysfunctional customer behaviors. Moreover, to date, no study has explored the associations between customer’s motives to misbehave and personality, situation specific, servicescape, and demographic variables. Keywords Dysfunctional customer behavior, Consumer deviance, Motive, Personality, Servicescape, Consumers, Motivation (psychology) Paper type Research paper An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article. The activities of dysfunctional customers are recognized by both academic- and practitioner-based literatures to constitute a challenging dilemma for modern organizations. Service workers must maintain equilibrium between the time- honored standpoint of consumer sovereignty (Keat and Abercrombie, 1991), and the practicalities of daily customer abuse performed within and against their firm (Grandey et al., 2007; Yagil, 2008). The disturbing picture from the firm- customer interface indicates that dysfunctional customer behavior is endemic across multiple service sectors. For example, Patterson et al. (2009) draw on US based research that shows a 78 percent increase in retail employees requesting counseling, owing to having been victim to incidents of abusive customer behavior. From the UK, the latest study from the Union of Shop, Distributive, and Allied Workers offers a comparable picture. In particular, the survey reveals that one in every ten shop workers have been physically assaulted whist at work, while 29 percent of workers have been subjected to verbal abuse within the past month (USDAW, 2009). While the magnitude of dysfunctional customer behavior is evident in practice (Grove et al., 2004; Arriely, 2007), by comparison, academic understanding of the dynamics of this phenomenon is somewhat limited. Although existing research offers insights into the antecedents of individual (Cox et al., 1993; McColl-Kennedy et al., 2009) and multiple forms (Funches et al., 2009; Reynolds and Harris, 2009) of customer misbehavior, scholarly understanding of the motivations that underpin such behaviors is undeveloped. Consequently, numerous calls for research into deviant customer motives have been raised (Krasnovsky and Lane, 1998; Fisk et al., 2010). Indeed, to the best of our knowledge, no scholarly research has developed a data-grounded understanding of the motivations of dysfunctional customer behaviors. Moreover, to date, no study has explored the associations between customer’s motives to misbehave and personality, situation specific, servicescape, and demographic variables. The current paper aims to contribute to these identified research gaps. First, the current research intends to make an empirical contribution through identifying categories of the motives that underpin dysfunctional customer behaviors. Currently, a dearth of research exists concerning “why” individual consumers misbehave. The current study aims to address this gap through contributing empirical insights derived from self-report data. Second, this study aims to contribute insights into how differently motivated misbehaviors are distinguished by personality variables, servicescape variables, situation- The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0887-6045.htm Journal of Services Marketing 26/4 (2012) 293–308 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0887-6045] [DOI 10.1108/08876041211237587] 293
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